y?i"  736 
JN?f> 


11. 

The  Past,  Present  and  Future 
of  American  Railways. 

Melville  E.  Ingalls. 


IN  the  year  1830  the  first  complete  railway  was 
put  in  operation.  There  had  been  many  ex- 
periments leading  up  to  this  ; in  fact,  in  the 
world’s  history,  all  great  improvements  or  inven- 
tions do  not  appear  at  once,  but  are  attained  by 
gradual  steps  and  often  appear  in  different  places 
■.and  through  different  persons,  as  though  the  idea 
had  filled  the  air,  as  it  were,  and  different  people 
commenced  to  work  on  the  same  line.  The  world 
was  ready  at  that  time  for  something  new.  For 
the  century  ending  with  the  year  1815  and  the 
great  and  decisive  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  civilized 


61 


2 


world  had  been  in  a constant  strife.  Hardly  a 
year  had  passed  in  which  one  or  more  of  the  great 
nations  of  Europe  were  not  at  war,  and  for  much 
of  the  time  all  of  them.  The  governments  had 
been  managed  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  ; the  con- 
dition of  the  common  people  had  been  almost 
hopeless  ; every  dollar  that  could  be  wrung  from 
them  by  the  most  onerous  taxation  in  the  world 
had  been  used  to  build  up  armies  and  navies  with 
which  to  fight.  So  oppressive  was  this  system 
that  in  1789  the  French  revolution  broke  out  with 
its  terrors.  The  people  became  like  some  wild 
animal  liberated  from  his  cage,  and,  knowing 
nothing  of  how  to  use  that  liberty,  simply  struck 
around  in  their  fierce  anger  and  destroyed  what- 
ever came  in  their  way.  Wise  men,  timid  men, 
lovers  of  liberty,  became  frightened  and  disgusted. 
Reaction  came,  and  on  it  Napoleon  climbed  to 
power.  He  soon  lost  his  head  and  endeavored 
to  rule  the  world,  and  the  contest  to  crush  him 
lasted  for  a score  of  years.  In  those  years  there 
was  no  opportunity  for  industrial  improvement. 
No  one  attempted  to  accomplish  anything  except 


62 


3 


to  fight  or  to  provide  for  the  necessaries  of  exist- 
ence. When  finally,  in  1815,  peace  came  to  the 
civilized  world,  it  dawned  upon  nations  poor,  weak 
and  wounded.  The  condition  of  the  poor  was  de- 
plorable, and  that  of  the  rich  not  much  better. 
The  facilities  of  communication,  even  in  countries 
of  the  highest  civilization,  at  that  time  were  very 
limited.  For  instance,  the  news  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  did  not  reach  London  until  three  days 
afterwards,  and  it  was  then  printed  in  the  news- 
papers and  sent  over  England  in  mail  coaches  that 
ran  night  and  day,  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight 
miles  per  hour. 

In  the  few  years  of  rest  from  war,  between  1815 
and  1830,  which  they  had  enjoyed,  the  people  had 
done  some  work,  and  more  thinking.  In  France 
the  Bourbons  with  their  despotic  notions  were 
driven  out,  and  in  England  the  people  secured  the 
“ reform  bill,”  so-called,  and  it  was  beginning  to 
be  understood  all  over  the  civilized  world  that  gov- 
ernments were  for  the  people  and  the  divine  right 
of  kings  to  oppress  and  misgovern  was  disappear- 
ing. Slowly,  as  the  nations  began  to  recover  from 

63 


4 


their  exhaustion,  they  devoted  their  time  and  en- 
ergies to  industrial  improvement.  The  men  in 
active  life  in  1815  knew  nothing  but  war  and  its 
adjuncts.  In  1830  a new  generation  was  upon 
the  stage,  ready  for  another  purpose.  George 
Stephenson’s  railway  was  completed  and  civiliza- 
tion was  ready  to  take  it  up  and  carry  his  ideas 
forward  and  beyond  even  his  fondest  dreams.  In 
sixty-seven  years  this  weakling  has  grown  to  be 
a giant  of  immense  proportions,  and  has  added 
vastly  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  mankind. 
In  1830,  when  the  first  railway  was  opened,  travel 
over  any  of  the  civilized  countries  of  the  world 
was  slow  and  wearisome.  Communities  which 
to-day  are  neighbors,  then  knew  but  little  of  each 
other.  England  was  the  richest  of  the  nations 
and  the  highest  in  civilization,  and  yet  a writer  at 
about  that  time,  describing  its  internal  affairs, 
says,  4 ‘ Each  little  community  set  apart  from  its 
fellows,  following  its  own  customs,  cherishing  its 
own  prejudices,  feeding  its  own  traditions,  speak- 
ing in  a dialect  which  men  from  a distance  failed 
to  understand ; a stranger  was  ipso  facto  an 


64 


5 


enemy.' ' In  our  own  country  at  this  time  civili- 
zation was  even  more  backward.  The  people  had 
settled  and  clustered  along  the  coast  and  the  great 
lakes  and  rivers,  but  the  means  of  communication 
were  slow  and  wearisome.  At  this  time  came  the 
railway,  and  its  development  has  been  one  of  the 
greatest  industrial  revolutions  in  the  world's  his- 
tory. One  writer  truly  says,  “It  has  enabled 
men  from  different  sections  to  meet  freely,  to  learn 
how  little  there  is  on  either  side  to  hate  and  how 
much  to  love  ; ancient  prejudices  melt  away  by 
the  fuller  knowledge  gained  from  travel  and  ac- 
quaintance ; each  year  as  men  associate  with  each 
other  and  travel,  the  unity  of  the  people  becomes 
more  and  more  perfect." 

While  railways  have  benefited  Europe  and  all 
civilized  nations  they  have  proved  more  of  a bless- 
ing to  America  on  account  of  its  great  distances. 
American  genius  also  seems  to  be  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  science  of  transportation  and  rail- 
roading. We  have  worked  out  in  this  country  the 
most  perfect  system  of  transportation  known  on 
earth.  In  England  the  railways  have  had  the 


65 


6 


benefit  of  unlimited  capital,  and  in  some  respects 
may  be  in  advance  of  ours.  The  journeys  there 
for  short  distances  are  more  comfortable,  but  their 
system,  if  applied  to  our  long  lines,  would  be  an 
utter  failure.  A trip  to-day  from  New  York  to 
Chicago  is  not  a thing  to  be  dreaded,  but  a pleasure 
to  be  anticipated.  With  the  trains  and  service, 
you  have  (in  the  parlance  of  railway  advertising) 
“all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  home.”  The 
3,500  miles  between  New  York  and  San  Francisco 
are  covered  in  less  than  five  days,  with  ease ; so 
that  even  our  invalids  can  avail  themselves  of  the 
different  climates  and  not  grow  weary  with  the 
journey.  The  expense  of  a journey  to-day  is  not 
one-fifth  of  what  it  was  in  the  old  days  of  stage- 
coaching, saying  nothing  about  time  and  comfort. 
Beyond  any  human  calculation,  however,  is  the 
benefit  derived  from  association  and  the  facilities 
of  communication  between  different  sections  of  the 
same  country.  It  has  enabled  the  American  Re- 
public to  grow  beyond  any  thought  or  prediction 
of  its  founders,  and  has  rendered  distant  sections 
homogeneous  to  each  other  which  otherwise  would 


66 


7 

have  been  distant  and  unknown  countries.  It  is 
hard  to  realize  what  would  have  happened  in  this 
country  of  ours  if  the  railway  systems  had  not 
been  perfected.  The  late  William  F.  Reynolds, 
of  this  city  of  Lafayette,  once  told  me  that  the 
hardest  day’s  work  he  ever  did  was  making  a trip 
from  Lebanon  to  Thorntown.  To-day,  on  trains 
of  the  Big  Four,  you  make  the  journey  in  ten  min- 
utes. 

More,  however,  than  in  the  facilities  of  travel  has 
been  the  growth  of  the  freight  traffic  of  the  various 
systems.  The  statistics  of  our  railways  are  prob- 
ably known  to  almost  every  schoolboy  in  the  land, 
yet  it  is  well  on  an  occasion  like  this,  when  we 
have  spoken  of  the  birth  of  the  enterprise,  to  al- 
lude to  and  place  before  your  eyes  its  present 
gigantic  stature,  so  that  you  may  have  the  picture 
more  vividly  before  you.  The  latest  official  fig- 
ures which  we  have  are  those  for  the  year  ending 
June  30th,  1896,  and  they  show  such  marvelous 
proportions  that  I can  not  forbear  placing  them 
before  you.  The  industrial  enterprise  that  started 
a half  century  or  more  ago,  by  the  aid  of  a few 


67 


8 


enthusiasts  who  were  themselves  doubtful  of  its 
success,  has  now  grown  to  fabulous  size;  182,776 
miles  of  main  track ; 240,000  miles  of  all  tracks. 
The  little  locomotive  that  George  Stephenson  ran 
from  Manchester  to  Liverpool  is  now  represented 
in  these  United  States  by  35,950  monster  ma- 
chines; 1,297,649  cars  are  in  service  ; 511,772,737 
passengers  were  carried  in  the  year  in  question ; 
765,891,385  tons  of  freight  were  handled;  the 
number  of  tons  of  freight  carried  one  mile  was 
95,328,360,278.  These  figures  are  almost  beyond 
the  conception  of  the  human  mind ; and  all  this 
freight  was  moved  at  an  average  charge  of  four- 
fifths  of  one  cent  per  ton  per  mile.  Think  of  it! 
A ton  of  freight  hauled  one  mile  at  a charge  of 
four-fifths  of  a cent.  The  gross  earnings  of  all 
the  railways  were  $1,150,169,376.  The  number 
of  employes  upon  the  payrolls  of  the  companies 
was  826,620.  If  you  take  into  consideration  those 
not  upon  the  payrolls  but  deriving  their  support 
from  the  railways,  and  consider  also  the  manu- 
facturers of  supplies  used  by  the  railways,  you 
will  probably  thribble  this  number.  In  other 


68 


9 


words,  an  army  of  more  than  2,000,000  of  men 
are  engaged  in  railway  business,  and  more  than 
I 10,000,000  of  our  population  are  supported  by  this 
industry. 

I have  said  that  it  cost  four-fifths  of  a cent  per 
ton  per  mile  to  handle  this  immense  amount  of 
freight,  but  this  is  the  average  charge.  The  great 
products  of  the  country,  like  flour,  corn,  wheat, 
coal  and  iron,  are  handled  for  less  than  one-half 
■Jj  this  charge,  and  this  low  cost  has  enabled  this 
j country  to  develop  its  manufactories  and  its  com- 
merce, until  it  stands  foremost  among  the  civil- 
ized nations  of  the  earth.  One  hundred  and 
ninety-one  million  tons  of  coal  were  mined  and 
moved  by  the  railways  in  this  country  last 
i year.  With  the  close  of  the  century  we  shall 
stand  undoubtedly  first  in  the  world  in  the 
mining  of  coal,  the  production  of  pig  iron,  the 
manufacture  of  flour  and  the  production  of  wheat 
and  corn.  The  world  stands  aghast  at  our  growth, 
great  factor  in  such  increase  has  been  the 


We  should  have  had  even  greater  de- 


velopment, had  it  not  been  for  unfortunate  legis- 
69 


IO 


lation  and  hostility  to  railway  corporations,  which, 
in  the  last  few  years,  has  retarded  their  develop- 
ment. The  cost  of  all  the  railways  in  this  country 
has  been  $10,566,865,771.  The  net  income  from 
their  operation  last  year,  in  the  aggregate,  was 
only  about  $377,000,000,  or  about  3^  per  cent, 
on  their  cost.  Many  of  the  lines  paid  more  than 
this,  but  a vast  number  nothing ; in  fact,  about 
one-fifth  of  all  the  railway  mileage  of  the  country 
last  year  was  in  bankruptcy,  and  managed  by  re- 
ceivers appointed  by  the  courts.  Legislatures, 
National  and  State,  and  city  governments  nearly 
everywhere,  seem  to  be  hostile  to  these  great 
enterprises. 

I propose  in  the  time  I have  here  to  give,  briefly, 
a history  of  the  causes  which  in  my  judgment 
have  led  up  to  this  hostility  and  what  is  necessary 
to  be  done  to  change  it.  In  the  beginning  of  rail- 
way development  capital  was  scarce  and  but  few 
people  were  willing  to  invest  in  such  a hazardous 
business,  and  the  need  of  the  communities  was  so 
great  that  any  extraordinary  concession  asked  for 
was  quickly  given.  Even  then,  the  first  pro- 


70 


1 1 

moters  lost  nearly  all  of  their  investment.  But 
few  of  the  great  trunk  lines  which  were  con- 
) structed  previous  to  1855  were  enabled  to  go 
through  the  panic  of  1857  without  bankruptcy; 
i stocks  of  some  of  the  best  roads  in  the  land,  and 
j which  to-day  are  paying  large  dividends,  went 
down  to  five  and  ten  cents  on  the  dollar,  and 
many  of  them  were  entirely  wiped  out  by  fore- 
closure proceedings.  With  the  close  of  the  war 
in  1865  a new  and  enormous  development  com- 
menced in  railway  building,  and  there  came  to 
' the  front  then  a practically  new  class  of  business 
men  known  as  railway  promoters.  It  was  no  un- 
j usual  thing  for  these  men  to  take  contracts  for 
building  hundreds  or  even  thousands  of  miles  of 
railway.  Their  plan  was  to  procure  the  most 
favorable  charters  from  the  States  or  the  Govern- 
| ment,  to  obtain  large  concessions  in  lands  along 
the  line,  then  organize  a company,  issue  as  many 
bonds  per  mile  and  as  much  stock  as  they  thought 
the  public  would  take,  obtain  from  cities  and 
towns  as  large  subsidies  as  possible  in  money  and 
promises ; then  make  contracts  with  themselves 

1 


> 


7 1 


12 


by  which  they  received  all  the  lands,  subsidies, 
bonds  and  stock,  for  constructing  the  railway. 
They  constructed  it  as  cheaply  as  possible  ; they 
sold  the  lands  for  the  best  price  obtainable  ; sold  the 
bonds  and  stocks  to  the  public  ; and  then  marched 
on  to  take  other  contracts  and  conquer  other  lands. 
When  the  day  of  reckoning  came,  as  it  was  bound 
to,  the  public  found  themselves  the  owners  of 
bonds  upon  which  the  interest  could  not  be  paid ; 
the  communities  found  themselves  with  a poor 
railway  in  which  they  had  no  direct  pecuniary 
interest ; they  saw  the  contractors  with  enormous 
fortunes,  and  they  concluded  that  they  had  been 
cheated  and  robbed.  Hence,  through  their  Legis- 
latures and  city  and  town  governments,  they  be- 
gan to  get  back  at  the  railways  by  imposing 
onerous  taxes  and  obligations  and  by  attempting 
to  fix  rates  of  fare  and  freight  by  legislation.  This 
was  the  start  of  the  so-called  “ Granger  legisla- 
tion ” in  the  7o’s.  This  legislation  went  through 
the  various  States  and  finally,  in  1886,  Congress 
passed  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law,  and  since 
that  year  the  difficulties  have  been  more  with 


72 


\ }3 

reference  to  that  law  than  with  State  laws.  That 
haw  practically  prohibited  contracts  among  rail- 
ways for  the  maintenance  of  tariffs ; or,  to  be  ex- 
£jict,  it  prohibited  pooling,  which  is  an  agreement 
between  two  or  more  competing  lines  to  divide 
1;he  business  in  certain  proportions;  it  being  the 
'judgment  of  railway  managers  then,  and  to-day, 
that  in  no  other  way  can  permanent  and  fair 
(rates  be  obtained  except  by  such  division  of 
business.  Two  individuals  in  trade  can  quarrel 
and  sell  goods  below  cost,  and  one  of  them 
soon  becomes  bankrupt  and  the  other  then  em- 
ploys him  and  holds  all  the  business  ; but  railways 
being  public  corporations  continue  to  exist,  and 
f when  they  fail  are  managed  by  a receiver  and  be- 
| come  worse  competitors  than  ever.  It  is  said 
that  the  public  get  the  benefit  of  this  competition, 

I 

I but  only  a certain  portion  of  the  public.  The 
I large  shippers  are  able  to  take  advantage  of  this 
1 condition  of  affairs  and  make  their  contracts, 
avoiding  the  law  through  one  way  or  another,  and 
1 then  they  can  undersell  the  small  shipper  and 
drive  him  out  of  business,  and  the  result  for  the 


73 


last  five  years  can  be  seen  all  over  this  country 
in  the  disappearance  of  the  small  shipper,  the 
small  manufacturer,  and  the  growth  of  the  larger. 
This  is  also  true  of  communities  ; the  effect  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Law  has  been  to  build  up 
places  like  Chicago  and  break  down  places  like 
LaFayette.  The  condition  of  affairs  apparently; 
culminated  last  spring  in  the  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  in  what  was 
known  as  the  “ Trans-Missouri  ” case,  in  which 
that  court  held  that  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law 
applied  to  railways,  and  therefore  practically  any  \ 
association  or  agreement  was  illegal,  and  since 
then  the  railways  have  been  in  a chaotic  state, 
rates  irregular,  the  earnings  diminishing,  and  their 
patrons,  the  public,  suffer ; investors  have  be- 
come frightened,  foreigners  have  sent  home  and 
sold  our  bonds  and  stocks ; and  out  of  these  trou- 
bled times  has  grown  the  business  of  reorganizing 
railways,  until  nearly  one-third  of  the  mileage  of 
the  country  has  been  sold  under  the  hammer  and 
reorganized.  The  old  stockholders  have  lost  their 
investment  or  else  have  secured  a new  interest  by 


i5 


paying  large  assessments.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
different  States  and  cities  and  counties  have  in- 
augurated a system  of  taxation  by  which  all  bonds 
and  stocks  of  railway  companies  have  been  sub- 
ject to  listing  and  taxation,  although  the  corpora- 
tion paid  the  taxes  upon  the  property  itself.  That 
is,  a party  in  Indiana  owning  bonds  or  stocks  in  a 
railway  is  compelled  to  list  them  and  pay  taxes 
upon  them,  while  if  he  lived  in  New  York  he 
would  not.  You  can  see  at  once  that  the  Indiana 
man  will  sell  his  securities  to  the  New  York  man, 
for,  while  the  rate  of  taxation  may  be  light,  it  is 
enough  to  change  the  investment.  The  result  has 
been  that  the  local  communities  have  sold  their 
bonds  and  stock ; the  investments  have  drifted  to 
Wall  Street,  and  the  bonds  and  shares  of  our 
principal  railways  are  to-day  used  simply  as  coun- 
ters are  used  in  a game  of  cards,  to  mark  the 
speculative  gains  or  losses  of  the  holders.  This 
is  the  most  unhealthy  condition  to  which  a great 
business  enterprise  can  arrive,  and  we  must  bear 
in  mind  in  considering  this  question  that  there  is 
no  one  business  that  involves  so  much  the  pros- 


75 


i6 

perity  and  happiness  of  the  people  as  that  of  the 
railways  ; the  entire  community  uses  them.  The 
railways  of  this  country,  as  heretofore  stated,  t, 

employ  nearly  a million  of  men  in  their  operation. 

There  are  more  employed  directly  in  the  manu- 

x 

facture  of  supplies  which  are  used  by  the  rail- 
ways, and  this  army  of  men,  with  the  families 
dependent  upon  them,  constitute  about  one-fifth 
of  our  population,  all  of  whom  are  dependent  upon 
the  railways.  The  prosperity  of  the  railways  is 
their  prosperity ; the  loss  of  the  railways  is  their 
loss.  There  can  be  no  prosperous  times  in  this 
country  unless  the  railways  prosper.  No  body 
politic  can  be  healthy  when  one-fourth  or  one-fifth 
of  it  is  diseased. 

What  is  the  future  ? There  must  be  changes 
in  legislation  and  in  the  management  of  railways. 

Some  plan  must  be  adopted  to  increase  the  own- 
ership in  railways  by  parties  residing  along  their 
lines.  The  first  great  step  towards  doing  this  must 
be  a reform  in  the  tax  laws,  so  that  citizens  of  Indi- 
ana or  other  States  can  be  put  upon  as  favorable 
terms  for  ownership  of  bonds  and  stock  in  a rail- 


76 


1 7 


way  as  citizens  of  New  York.  Greater  perma- 
nence must  be  given  to  the  condition^  and  owner- 
ship of  railways.  It  would  be  a great  step  if  we 
could  adopt  the  English  method  and  create  deben- 
tures instead  of  bonds ; or,  in  other  words,  pro- 
vide that  there  should  be  no  foreclosure  for 
non-payment  of  interest.  Such  a thing  as  foreclos- 
ure of  a railway  in  England  is  unknown.  If  the  in- 
terest is  not  paid  upon  the  debentures,  there  may 
be  a receiver  of  the  profits,  but  the  stockholder 
still  holds  his  interest  in  the  property.  Here, 
with  our  system  of  bonds,  if  there  come  a few 
bad  years,  when  the  interest  is  defaulted,  the 
bondholder  takes  possession  and  sells  it  under  his 
mortgage,  the  interest  of  the  stockholder  is  extin- 
guished, and  when  prosperity  returns  he  has  lost 
his  opportunity  to  get  his  share  of  it.  This  makes 
the  possession  of  railway  stocks  speculative  and 
uncertain  ; in  fact,  for  years  they  have  been  more 
subject  to  assessments  than  to  the  receipt  of  divi- 
dends. If  our  form  of  mortgage  could  be  changed 
to  that  of  the  English  debenture,  it  would  stop 
the  immense  number  of  reorganizations,  and  would 


(*) 


77 


i8 

prevent  values  being  wiped  out  in  times  of  panic, 
and  would  encourage  investment  by  the  people 
in  the  securities  of  these  enterprises — for,  after  f 

all,  that  is  the  real  improvement  that  is  to  come. 

The  New  England  railways  have  less  trouble  with 
Legislatures  and  courts,  chiefly  because  they  have 
a great  many  small  holders  of  stocks  along  their 
lines  and  in  the  cities,  each  of  whom  is  an  agent 
of  the  corporation  and  aids  in  creating  public  sen- 
timent and  procuring  fair  treatment,  while  in  the 
great  Central  States  and  in  the  West  there  are 
scarcely  stockholders  enough  to  provide  the  officers 
for  a stockholders’  meeting.  The  railway  officials 
themselves  must  be  taught  to  conduct  their  busi- 
ness with  care  and  with  due  respect  to  the  rights 
of  the  people.  Their  actions  must  not  be  secret, 
but  above  board  and  open  to  the  public.  There 
must  be  but  one  rate  to  everybody,  and  that  must 
be  reasonable,  and  the  Legislatures  must  provide 
remedies  by  which  railway  officials  can  agree 
with  each  other  on  these  rates  and  their  contracts 
can  be  enforced.  The  present  State  and  national  ¥ 

laws  in  reference  to  railways  are  crude  and  crazy- 


78 


19 


patch  works,  passed  in  some  cases  out  of  revenge 
for  wrongs,  real  or  fancied,  and  in  others  for  polit- 
ical effect,  and  all  in  opposition  to  the  railways. 
Unfortunately,  railway  officials  have  opposed  all 
legislation  that  looked  to  the  control  of  their  pow- 
ers, and  have  not  tried  to  direct  and  perfect  the 
laws  as  they  might  have  done.  There  should  be 
clear  and  positive  legislation  authorizing  railways 
to  contract  with  each  other  for  the  maintenance 
of  tariffs  and  the  division  of  business,  and  it  should 
be  made  the  duty  of  the  Government  Commis- 
sioners, and  they  should  have  the  power  in  such 
cases  to  see  that  rates  are  reasonable,  and  their 
decisions  as  to  whether  reasonable  or  not  should 
govern,  subject  to  appeal  to  the  courts. 

The  improvement  of  the  country  demands  that 
the  great  articles  of  export,  like  cotton,  wheat, 
flour,  corn  and  meats,  should  be  carried  at  the 
lowest  possible  rates.  The  railways  should  pat- 
tern after  the  English  system,  and  while  making 
extraordinarily  low  rates  for  these  great  articles, 
should  exact  a terminal  upon  the  higher  classes  of 
freight  and  upon  freight  carried  short  distances,  so 


79 


20 


as  to  provide  interest  upon  the  immense  terminals 
they  have  to  have.  In  other  words,  while  a railway 
from  Chicago  to  New  York  may  possibly  haul  corn 
for  fifteen  cents  per  hundred  pounds  without  loss,  it 
could  not  haul  it  for  ioo  miles  on  anything  like  a 

ft 

proportion  of  this  rate  without  great  loss.  The 
same  is  true  of  many  articles  that  enter  into  rail- 
way traffic.  Therefore,  in  order  that  the  country 
may  be  benefited  by  having  its  great  articles  of 
export  and  of  manufacture  carried  cheaply,  there 
should  be  a terminal  charge  affixed  to  other  traffic 
which  would  enable  the  stockholders  to  receive 
something  for  the  very  large  investment  they 
have  to  make  in  every  city  and  town  for  facilities 
wherewith  to  do  their  business. 

Passenger  rates  are  made  entirely  upon  the 
wrong  basis.  We  charge  the  same  for  the  man 
who  rides  in  the  palace  car,  and  for  whom  the 
railway  has  to  haul  two  tons  of  dead  weight,  as  , 

we  do  for  the  man  who  rides  in  the  ordinary 
coach,  and  for  whom  only  one-half  a ton  of  dead 
weight  is  hauled.  We  charge  practically  the  v 

same  for  the  passenger  who  is  carried  sixty  miles 


80 


21 


an  hour  on  the  fast  and  expensive  train  as  we  do 
for  the  passenger  upon  the  slow  and  less  expen- 
sive train.  These  rates  should  be  changed  and 
graded. 

Above  all,  a better  understanding  must  be  ar- 
rived at  with  the  vast  army  of  employes.  They 
must  have  greater  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
railways,  and  they  must  be  a part  of  the  power 
that  will  produce  a better  understanding  with  the 
communities  which  the  railways  serve.  This 
must  be  done  by  a system  of  hospitals,  pensions 
and  profit-sharing. 

Probably  locomotives  propelled  by  electricity 
will  come  in  the  future.  If  not,  something  else 
may.  And  we  can  not  tell  what  the  next  years 
have  in  store  in  the  way  of  improving  our  railway 
facilities.  Higher  speed,  possibly  cheaper  trains, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  this  country  of  ours  that  the 
railways  should  be  encouraged,  so  that  they  may  go 
on  improving  their  systems,  so  that  branch  lines 
can  be  built  to  every  county  seat  in  the  country. 
Instead  of  stopping  at  182,000  miles  of  railway  we 
should  build  at  least  five  thousand  miles  a year  in 


81 


22 


short  and  inexpensive  lines  as  feeders  to  the  main 
systems,  so  that  the  days  of  the  stage  coach  and 
the  heavy  wagons  should  be  unknown.  This 
country  will  soon  have  one  hundred  millions  of 
people.  It  will  require  at  least  250,000  miles  of 
railways  to  serve  them  properly — an  increase  of 
40  per  cent,  over  the  present  mileage.  They  can 
not  be  built,  they  can  not  be  improved  and  in- 
creased, with  the  present  system  of  legislation, 
and  with  the  present  prejudice  against  them.  The 
development  of  the  country  demands  that  this 
must  be  changed.  It  is  through  such  institutions 
as  this,  it  is  through  such  students  as  these,  that 
the  change  must  come.  In  the  centuries  that  have 
gone,  the  youth  of  the  various  countries  sought 
fame  and  preferment  in  war  and  its  accompani- 
ments. We  live  in  better  days  and  in  a higher 
civilization,  but  the  service  of  our  railways  offers 
a wider  field  for  advancement,  and  for  fame,  than 
anything  of  old.  The  road  to  success  in  this  line 
is  not  through  carnage  and  suffering,  but  it  is 
none  the  less  sure  and  requires  equally  moral  v 

courage  and  intelligence.  A new  evangel  must 


82 


23 


be  preached  in  reference  to  railways ; they  must 
be  placed  upon  a higher  order,  and  instead  of  be- 
i ing  pariahs  in  business,  they  must  be  the  bene- 

factors, and  friends  of  all. 

\ I want  to  add  just  one  word  with  reference  to 

Purdue.  I had  no  idea,  until  1 came  here  to-day, 
that  it  was  so  great  an  institution  as  it  is.  I had 
learned  to  respect  your  President.  I had  known 
what  hard  work  he  did,  and  1 thought  he  was 
building  up  something  here,  but  I had  no  notion 
whatever  that  he  had  accomplished  so  much  or 
raised  such  a foundation  as  he  has.  I congratu- 
late you  that  your  lines  are  laid  in  such  pleasant 
places.  You  can  learn  here  what  it  takes  years 
and  years  of  hard  work  to  learn  practically  if  you 
are  going  to  learn  it  at  the  bench,  or  firing  an 
engine  or  at  work  on  the  railway.  The  great 
English  world,  the  great  end,  is  to  get  rid  of  what 
\ I call  the  dollar-a-day  man,  or  the  man  who  does 

the  drudgery,  and  who  never  gets  above  it.  This 
college  of  yours  enables  you  to  start  above  that, 
and  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  improve  your  oppor- 
tunities and  the  fortunes  of  the  world  are  within 

83 


3 0112  053561426 


24 

your  grasp.  As  I went  through  these  halls  to-day 
it  carried  me  back  to  the  times  when  I was  a stu- 
dent and  a teacher,  and  I could  not  help  thinking 
how  many  more  privileges  you  have  than  we  had 
years  ago,  and  what  a glorious  opportunity  you 
have  here  to  learn  something  practical  and  prac- 
ticable, so  that  when  you  go  out  from  these  halls, 
instead  of  going  to  the  drudgery  of  what  1 call  a 
dollar-a-day  man,  you  can  start  on  a higher  basis, 
where  you  can  do  credit  to  yourselves  and  to  your 
university. 


s4 


